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12/19/2011

After church services this evening, I was shooting the breeze with the teenage boy who habitually sits in the pew right behind where I habitually sit. We stumbled upon the topic of prayer. All of a sudden a spark of clarity illuminated the cobwebby confines of my mind. Each member of the Godhead plays a key role in prayer!

Matt 6:8–9—[F]or your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven….

in the name of Jesus the Son …

John 16:23–24—And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and you will receive….

John 16:26–27—At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Rom 8:26–27—Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Eph 6:18—Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit….

We talked about God, Jesus, and the Spirit in relation to prayer perhaps for no more than 30 seconds. Then we both smiled.

10/26/2011

I believe that God created the heavens and the earth in six days and on the seventh day He rested (Gen 1:1–2:23);

I believe that God valued man highly from the very beginning because He created man in His image and gave him dominion over all His other living creations (Gen 1:26–31, 2:19);

I believe that God breathed the breath of life into the first human (Gen 2:7) and continues to supply each one of us with the breath of life today (Acts 17:24–28);

I believe that every person to ever walk this earth (with the exception of one man who will shortly be named) has sinned against and rejected his/her Creator and Life Preserver (Rom 3:23);

I believe that because each one of us has sinned, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to save us from our sins (John 3:17);

I believe that Christ always did (and still does) His Father's will (Luke 2:49; Mark 19:46);

I believe that Christ fulfilled His Father's will by bearing our temptations, sorrows, beatings, humiliations, and sins, and by facing total separation from His God and Father on the cross (Heb 2:17–18, Matt 26:36–38, Matt 26:66–67, Matt 27:27–31, 2 Cor 5:21, and Matt 27:46, respectively);

God's motive for all that He did, does, and will do is “love” (1 John 4:8–10).

Intellect believes all of those things are true (and provides ample evidence for these assertions), and yet Emotion feels that the following is true (enter blasphemy):

“Love” is impatient and unkind; “love” envies and boasts; “love” is arrogant and rude. It insists on getting its own way; it is irritable and resentful; it rejoices at wrongdoing, but does not rejoice in the truth; it does not bear all things, does not believe all things, does not hope all things, does not endure all things. “Love” will end. (Grossly distorted 1 Cor 13:4–8)

Intellect knows that distortion is a lie. For truth, see the real 1 Cor 13:4–8. This distortion of “love” is a wall between me and others, and more importantly and devastatingly, between me and God. In 1 John 4:8, John writes, “God is love.” Emotion immediately kicks in and scratches out the word “love” and replaces it with “a lie.” Intellect knows that THAT is a lie. But the lie feels stronger than the truth. There is a constant brain battle between Intellect and Emotion. When I can quiet my brain enough to listen, these are the words I need to hear:

Prov 3:5—Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Scripture quotations are from (and grossly distorted from) the ESV* Bible. In other words…

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